Barbed wire roll pick up and carrying tongs



Oct. 23, 1962 3,059,954-

J. F. MATEJICEK BARBED WIRE ROLL PICK UP AND CARRYING TONGS Filed 00%,. 20, 1961 FIG. 1

FIG. 2

v INVENTOR. Joseph F Ma/ej/cek ATTORNEY United States This invention relates to a pair of barbed wire roll pick up and carrying tongs, and has for an object to provide an improved pair of tongs, particularly intended for manually picking up and carrying a roll of barbed wire although, of course, equally serviceable in picking up similar rolls of other types of wire.

Due to the barbs or prongs on barbed wire, it is particularly difficult to normally pick up and carry a roll of barbed wire without the danger of injuring the hands or the body of the person carrying the roll. With this invention, however, the roll of Wire can be readily picked up and carried without danger of injuring either the hands or the legs or other parts of the body of the person carrying the roll. This is particularly important in the field, as when rolls of barbed wire are carried from a truck to a position where the wire is to be used as well as, of course, in initially loading the truck to bring it to the field where it is to be used.

With this invention, the roll of barbed wire can be readily picked up without excessive strain and easily carried while at the same time, the person carrying the same is protected from possibility of contact with the barbs on the wire.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a pair of barbed wire pick up and carrying tongs having a pair of roll pick up and carrying jaws, one jaw being provided by the short leg of an L-shaped piece of sheet metal, and the other jaw being provided by an elongate tong with pivot means intermediate the ends of the elongate tong cooperating with pivot cooperating means on the end of the long leg of the other tong, with one end of the elongate tong providing a handle and the other end providing a roll cooperating jaw, and with a handle grip provided on the back of the long leg of the L-shaped sheet metal plate tong, so that a person may push the short leg of the L-shaped tong under a roll of barbed wire and pivot the elongate tong so that their ends act as cooperating jaws for gripping the roll of barbed wire, holding the roll on the L-shaped tong in convenient position by means of a handle grip on the L-shaped tong and the handle provided in the other end of the elongate tong.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the pair of tongs of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view, showing two positions of the elongate tong.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tongs in the act of being applied to a roll of barbed wire.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the tongs in roll pick up and carrying position.

There is shown at the barbed wire roll pick up and carrying tongs particularly designed and intended for picking up and carrying a roll or coil of barbed wire 12 which, as is well known, consists of one or more strands of wire 14 having a great plurality of prongs or barbs 16 provided thereon and extending therefrom at practically all angles. Such a roll of wire is, of course, extremely difficult to pick up and carry by an individual atcnt 0 3 ,659,954 Patented Oct. 23, 1962 ice due to the presence of the barbs or prongs 16, which prongs (which are very sharp) will cut through and tear gloves and hands of any operator and, in addition, when carrying the roll 12, the prongs often come into contact with and injure the legs or body of the person carrying the same.

With this invention, however, the roll 12 can be readily picked up and carried by anyone strong enough to bear the weight of the roll without danger of injury either to the hands or to the legs or body of the person carrying the same. This is accomplished by having the pair of tongs consist of the L-shaped tong 18 and an elongate tong 20.

The L-shaped tong 18 is made of sheet metal or steel plate of a gauge of suitable strength. The plate may be approximately five to six inches wide more or less, of sufficient Width so that when brought into contact with the leg of the operator, it will prevent contact between the leg or body of the operator and the roll of barbed wire 12 carried thereon.

The tong 1-8 is L-shaped as shown, consisting of a long leg 24 and a short leg 24, the short leg 24 providing a shovel base jaw, and is somewhat tapered as shown at 26 to provide a somewhat narrower end 28, the corners being preferably rounded as shown. Secured to the long leg 22 at the back thereof and somewhat adjacent the L-angle 30 is a handle grip 32 preferably made of the same gauge of sheet metal. This handle grip 32 is secured to the back of the tong long leg 22 by any suitable means, such as welding 34, rivets, studs, screws or the like, so as to preferably leave a smooth surface on the inner side of the long leg 22. The long leg 22 is likewise tapered as at 36 to a narrower end 38, the corners being similarly rounded. Integrally secured to the back of the long leg end 38 is a hinge consisting of a pair of hinge plates 40 here shown as Welded at. 42, or otherwise suitably secured, and providing spaced apart apertured cars 44 having aligned bearing shaftways 46 through which can be placed a suitable pivot pin 48.

The elongate tong 20 is preferably made of rod stock metal, and is provided intermediate its ends with an enlarged boss 50 through which extends a shaftway of the same diameter as the shaftway 46, the width of the boss 50 being such that it will readily fit between the apertured cars 44 so that the pivot pin 48 also passes through the shaftway boss 50 and thus provides a cooperating pivot means for the two tongs 18 and 20.

A lubrication conduit 52 extends from the surface of the boss 50 to the shaftway therethrough, thus facilitating the lubricating of the tong 20 on the pivot 48. The end 54 of the elongate tong 20 extending over the angle Bil of the tong 18 is somewhat curved or arched as at 56 toward the L tong angle 30, and provides a second jaw cooperating with the shovel base jaw 24 in holding the coil of barbed wire 14 thereon.

The other end of the elongate tong Ztl is integrally formed into an O-shaped handle 58 for cooperation with the other hand of the operator. It will be also noted that the jaw end 54 of the elongate tong 20 is also rounded.

In operation, the operator lifts and carries the weight of the tongs by means of one hand holding the handle grip 32, while the other hand holds tong handle 58.

By means of the handle grip 32, shovel base jaw 24 is pushed under one side of the roll 12, as illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, and then the handle 58 is manipulated to bring the other jaw 54 into roll securing position as illustrated in FIG. 5. In this position, the operator may readily lift up the roll 12 by lifting the handle grip 32, the Wide sheet metal plate of leg 22 preventing the roll 12 from coming in contact with the operators leg or any part of the body, particularly when the roll has to be lifted higher than his waist. The narrowed end 28, of course, facilitates inserting this shovel base jaw 24 under the roll, while the wider portion thereof provides ample support, cooperating with the curved jaw end 54 extending into the hole 60 of a roll 12, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

As will be observed in FIG. 5, the height of the long leg 22 of the L tong is slightly more than the height of the side of the roll 12, and with the other parts made in suitable proportion thereto, and it has been found that the entire weight of the tongs 10 is such that it does not cause the combined weight of the tongs 10 and the roll 12 to be beyond the strength of the average operator who would be carrying the roll 12, and utilizing these tongs 10, the operator can handle the roll 12 with much greater ease and facility and without danger of injury to himself, particularly from the prongs 16.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be 20 variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. Manually operable barbed wire roll pick up and 25 roll, the short leg of said plate being insertable under 30 a roll of barbed wire with the front side of the long leg of the plate adapted to engage a side of a barbed wire roll, a hand grip on the back side of said long leg adjacent the end forming the angle with said short leg, pivot on said elongate tong intermediate its ends coacting with said pivot means, one of said ends of said elongate tong comprising a finger extending into the hollow axis of a barbed wire roll receivable on said short leg in cooperation with said long leg, and a handle on the other of said ends of said elongate tong, whereby a barbed wire roll can be safely picked up and carried by simultaneously lifting with one hand on said hand grip and the other hand on said handle.

2. The tongs of claim 1, said finger on said elongate tongue extending toward said short leg at an angle to the axis of said elongate tong.

3. The tongs of claim :1, said pivot means comprising a pair of spaced apart apertured ears on said opposite end of said long leg, said cooperating means on said elongate tong having a pivot bearing shaftway extending transversely therethrough, and a pivot pin extending through said apertured ears and said bearing shaftway.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 488,357 Hill Dec. 20, 1892 1,301,852 Leaton Apr. 29, 1919 1,349,889 Koch Aug. 17, 1920 1,541,738 Peyton June 9, 1925 1,806,956 Smith May 26', 1931 2,210,904 Durant Aug. 13, 1940 2,385,913 Fink Oct. 2, 1945 2,412,627 McGowan Dec. 17, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 81,065 Switzerland Ian. 4, 1919 

